Trope Tuesday: Found family

Welcome to the trope writing series, where I’ll be sharing different tropes present in fiction books on Tuesdays! We’ll cover what these tropes are, how to write them effectively yourself, and some examples of books that include them. We’ll be looking at all kinds of tropes from a variety of genres, from romance and thrillers to fantasy.

If there are any tropes you’re keen for me to cover, let me know by leaving a comment!

This post contains affiliate links. For more information, see my disclosure here.

The found family trope

The found family trope involves a relationship dynamic where individuals who aren’t related by blood come together and form a close bond similar to a family. It’s also known as the “chosen family” or “family of choice”.

This trope might involve a group of individuals in similar circumstances (orphans, sports players), members of an organisation banding together (rebel groups), or new members of a small town or community finding deep connections with others. The found family trope can be present in a whole variety of literary circumstances.

It’s especially popular in genres like fantasy and science fiction, where characters are often forced together by a shared aim or quest, and in romance, which is more character-driven and focused on exploring relationships.

We can find this age-old trope in classics like Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings series, Dickens’s Oliver Twist, and Frank Baum’s children’s classic The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. It’s still a massively popular trope today, for both readers and writers – and in other forms of media like movies and video games.

Books featuring the found family trope

How to write the found family trope into your fiction

First, you need character/s who are disconnected or distant from their real blood family in some way. Often, in a found family story, the protagonist is estranged or cut off from their own family – or they just don’t get along with them. They may have moved away to a new town and started a new life for themselves, they might have chosen not to interact with their relatives because of past trauma, or they may have no blood family left who are alive.

However, it doesn’t always have to be so black and white. Sometimes, characters do still have family members left that they trust – but there is usually a set of family members they are distant from.

They might no longer talk to their parents, for example, but still have a loving grandparent, perhaps one that lives elsewhere.

The found family trope is all about a group dynamic, so you’re going to have more than one person coming together. Make sure all of them are well fleshed out with their own backstories. Your characters don’t all need to struggle with an estranged or difficult family background, but the bonds between the group are often deeper if there is a shared struggle.

Relationship development is incredibly important in a found family story. You need to make sure it’s gradual, built over time, rather than something that feels rushed or hurried.

Take your time. Allow the characters to get to know one another. Build in events and scenes that let them connect and grow closer. Let them experience challenges together.

K.M. Weiland’s Creating Character Arcs is a great resource for developing the characters’ journeys in a found family story.

I also recommend The Emotional Wound Thesaurus for digging into your characters’ backstories and what they’ve been through.

I hope you enjoyed reading about the found family trope and that this post gave you some ideas for implementing it in your writing!

If you would like to work with me on your manuscript, check out my editorial services.